CMCMANGOMAN

Apparently, the "suicide" note was written in ancient San skirt and a forensic Thai monk was called in to translate the note via chanting and going through Frenchy's pockets.

Sure enough, the monk confirmed suicide and 320 baht in small change. Conclusion: Angry Ghost. Case spiritually CLOSED.

I am saddened by this family's tragic end. I can relate a few stories that may add to the dialog and perhaps shed a bit of light on the Thai thinking of some in this area.

Suicide is a spirit. An evil spirit or in the case of Thailand, an evil ghost. Thais believe this is true but don't fully understand the overwhelming spiritual power they are facing. A Buddhist monk told me this. People will scoff and laugh at this idea but when Thai folks are desperate all it takes is a latent suggestion and a nudge from these evil entities to put the suicidal act into full play.

For example, I have witnessed several suicidal Thai people in our own village. They are generally inconsolable and may be on thier 2nd or even 3rd attempt to commit suicide. The reasons are varied and mostly solvable with a calm head and some time. Nevertheless, these Thai people want to die. They are crazy for death and are out of their minds; they are not acting like themselves. Thai people immediately suspect an evil ghost is the cause of the problem and diligently cart the suicidal relative off to the local temple for the monks to pray over. This I have witnessed personally. Sometimes it takes 4 or 5 Thai men to hold the person down in the back of a pickup truck while they drive to the temple. The "possessed" person is held down to keep them from jumping out of the fast moving truck thereby killing themselves.

This I have seen with my own eyes.

Now here is the shocking part. The head monk at our biggest local temple will no longer take on the task of praying for these Thai people who he says are "possessed by evil ghosts." He has tried and failed too many times to exercise them from the inhabited person. But here is the strangely odd rub. This head monk of the Buddhist temple takes the said possessed person, along with the anterage that accompanied him or her, and they all go together to the nearby tiny CHRISTIAN CHURCH!

Here, the head monks turns the patient over to the Thai Christian pastor or one of his family members. Immediately, the Thai Christians lay hands on the possessed person and pray to Jesus completely in Thai. No english is spoken as I and my Thai wife have witnessed this ourselves.

Almost immediately, after prayer, there is a stunning difference in the formerly crazy possessed persons demeanor. They are calm and back to themselves again. Apparently, the evil ghost has left them according to both the pastor as well as the head monk! In fact, these two Thai guys are now good friends. Indeed, the Thai Christian pastor tells all the local monks to please bring anyone that they cannot handle to his little church. He said this for all the surrounding villages to hear that his God Jesus is very powerful and can solve all Thai peoples spiritual problems.

Amazingly enough, the Thai pastor does not recieve money for this service as the Buddhist monks do. In fact, I saw the Thai pastor pray over these cases right out in the dirt parking lot of his church while men are holding the possessed person down in the back of a pickup! Amazing Thailand is all I can really say. And this is why I LOVE living in the Thai village setting. It's never boring.

What's the takeaway from all this? Suicide is an evil ghost that pushes people to do crazy stuff. I've seen it with my own eyes right here in Thailand. There are solutions as shown above. But never underestimate the devils hand in anything evil. That is our 1st mistake. Be safe and shun all evil in 2015. Even the Thai monks agree to this as seeing is believing. Peace!

Got heavy stains?

Two words...

AUTOMATIC DISHWASHER.

Mix your stemware with your underwear.

Your shirts with your sauce pans.

The plates with your pants and finally

your socks with your pots.

Oh, and I don't mind the lint on the glasses because it comes off easily when I shower.

True story and this definately happened to me in Thailand. Myself and 5 other farang investors were robbed of our collective investment. This amount was around 15 million baht. Our farang investment banker was murdered by his Thai gay lover. His death sentence came delivered via cockroach poison deposited in a can of ice cold Coca Cola. The Thai police ruled it a suicide immediately of course. As a group, we hired lawyers and a private investigator. They found evidence of murder, followed the missing money. The farang bankers Thai gaylover was now in complete control of all monies, funds, assets and computer records. The Thai police were informed... alas, nothing could be done. The gay lover was related, by blood, to the highest of high connections. Sit down and shut up. Case closed. Go away farangs. Forever.

Edited to say, that up to a year prior to the bankers murder, I was receiving regular deposits in my Thai bank account of 170,000 baht per month based on my initial investment. All told, after roi, I lost approximately 400,000 baht cash on the investment. I'll survive. Others weren't as lucky.

How long were you able to ride the dragon before it threw you off? 170,000 for 400,000 is insane! That's like an ROI 40%+

3 million baht total over 2+ years invested with the banker. I personally had 3 different diversified portfolios managed by him. Two were short term, 1 year. Those paid well and I made great money. The 3rd and last deal was less money from me because I was late to sign on and the investment group slots were already filled by the other gentlemen investors. Lucky me.

In the end, I lost around 400,000 baht on that last deal. There were no warning signs for any of us. It was murder for money plain and simple. The gay Thai lover was a silent partner and most of us did not know of his involvement. Apparently, the banker had trusted him with the keys to the kingdom. A beautiful luxurious penthouse, brand new 730i BMW, numerous other assets all held by the bankers thai company. The gay Thai lover was an officer of the Thai registered company and CFO accountant. Heir apparent he was.

The story is ridiculous and unbelievable, especially to me and I lived through it! Bottom line is, there are no safe investments in Thailand. People will kill for money here just like every where else in the world. The difference here is the Thai criminals have a much better chance of getting away with it. Be it financial malfeasance or murder; it all comes down to how much money you have and how connected you are.

THIS IS THAILAND !!!

I posed the OP's question to my wife and she thought for a moment and said, "Well, it's a good time to break into houses in our village because many people will be away at parties. They have gold in there."

So...there you have it! Looks like my new years eve is all planned out for me.

All kidding aside gents. Heads up everbody. Seriously, watch your stuff. This is when the Thais love to do B&E's. Country wide so eyes wide open.

I find the Governors comments to be most insulting and offensive. He skirted the obvious issue and did not even directly mention the most recent and upsetting incident where 10 Thai men assaulted an individual Farang, simply because he did not want to be scammed out of 30,000 baht. That's almost a thousand US Dollars. <deleted>!? Also, I would say that "not taking advantage of" is not even close to "don't assault and rob" foreigners.

REALLY!! Thais are slowly killing off the goose that lays the golden eggs---tourists. How sad, short sighted, and of course, typical.

How is it "typical"?

Millions come here every year. Millions don't get beat up or scammed.

You need to spend more time in Thailand and less time on the internet.

Mudcrap: Cultural Apologist

A cultural apologist is a person that will defend a culture, no matter how offensive or incorrect, that is not native to himself in any way, shape or form. This he does as a way of lording his pseudo self-importance over others he interacts with. These people tend to think that indigenous people like them better, when in fact, the very opposite is true.

Hey, ill take the Ruskies over the Chinese any day!!!

Folks are forgetting that Thailand has a beloved king who really cares about his country and its people. He has worked tirelessly in years past to bring his country into the 21st century. It still needs lots of work but still is a great country because of the kings efforts. Long live the king of Thailand. Much gratitude sir.

On the other hand, the Phillipines has been used and abused by every kind of despot, tinpot, and greedy country (including the vatican) to ever look upon her.

Come on!!! Weren't you fellas ever 26 years old?!?!?!?

Don't you get it? The story is metaphorical. It represents the average falang persons experience while in Thailand.

The mall is representative of Thailand where EVERYTHING/EVERYONE can be bought and is on sale for a certain price.

The tank is danger and contains forbidden fruit, the strange, the odd, the kinky that people love to ogle.

The small shark attack represents just what can happen at any moment while in this country and is the result of wanting to stand too close to the danger because it's exciting and exillerating.

The pram or baby stroller is a warning to always use protection or you will be strapped down with more responsibility than you ever wanted in the first place.

The obnoxious child pounding on the tank with a toy gun is symbolic of Thai immigration always banging on your door, breathing down your neck, constantly trying to get your attention with new crackdowns and higher hurdles.

Finally, the screaming falang is you who is at wits end and on nerves edge due to all the horrific foreign deaths in the last year amd all the corruption, graft and malfeasance that constantly swirls around your daily life as you attempt to cope just one more day in the land of smiles.

Merry Christmas all and have wonderful New Year in Thailand!

Nothing good can be learned outside an ethical construct and foundation.

Start there Thailand.

"How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Nothing good can be learned outside an ethical construct and foundation.

Start there Thailand.

I once went a year without doing my 90 day reports. When I went to extend my visa based on retirement they wrote up a police report, they had me sign it and i paid the 2000 baht fine. This was at the Suan Plu office several years ago. They asked me why I didnt report and of course I feigned ignorance. They said mai pen rai.

Look, do the math. Every time I leave the house to venture into Bangkok it costs me a minimum of 2000 baht. Gas, tolls, time, food, goofing off, etc. 2000 baht x 4 = 8000 baht. VS. One year fine for not reporting 90 days = 2000 baht.

Since I moved and built a new house I no longer skip reporting. We now just make a day out of it and do something fun afterwards. Although, I still think it is an imbecilic rule that needs to go

Was the man wearing a revealing bikini by chance??? Hhhhmmmmmmmmmmm????

mmmmmm who did he piss off? Ngo mafia?

NGO Mafia.... Hilarious!!!

In Thailand, it seems as though every walk of life, every possible station, no matter how elevated or how ever lowly it might rate has it own mafia! Haha hahaha aah...TiT!!!

You've all heard of the "War on drugs" tag line. Well, the new tag-line in Thailand is "War on Tourism" after that's accomplished it wil be "War on Expats" if not already underway. BRILLIANT!

Anyone now doubt the stupidity of the Thai elite (and I include Thaksin in that btw)?

Massive

If the Thai elite personify stupidity; the Thai masses represent ignorance personified.

Hitler was xenophobic; so are the Thais.

Nothing changes because all it takes is one generation to forget everything.

Does one not hire a good lawyer when going into court? One that knows the system and perhaps even knows the judge? A lawyer that is wise and knows the system is rigged? Who is the smart one and who is the fool here OP? Just how much have you been screwed over because of your stubbornness and pride? A wise man uses his assets to his full advantage, remaining concealed, yet fully in control.

Som nam na! Hahahahha...I said when Sweden started to mess with Israel they'd be toast. They were the first to acknowledge Falsastine in Europe. You touch the apple of Gods eye and you will reap the whirlwind. Nothing but a bunch of amateur euro-phillistines. Pffffft!

In a word...XENOPHOBIA.

Simple. Reward good behavior by the child as well as his mother and conversely, ignore and defund undesirable behavior. This works for dogs, monkeys and people.

Of course the agency is lying. They are Thai. For example, I asked my Thai wife what is number 1 sin in Buddhist Thailand by Thai people. She thought about it for about a split second and said LYING! She quickly added that everything bad in Thailand starts with a lie and gossip. She said even when Thai people want to do something good it probably involves a lie of some sort.

I began to consider this while remembering past dealings with Thai business people and others and rightly concluded that her statement was fairly true. In my experience.

Furthermore, I observed that one of the most often used words in Thailand is the word "WHAT?" And that word spelled phonetically looks like this: a-lie.

Coincidence or bitter irony? Draw from your own experience. TiT.